This disclosure relates to a pen-shaped cellular phone that executes two-way radio communication between a wireless station and mobile object, and various aspects of this disclosure are useful as a pen-shaped cellular phone usable as an actual writing tool.
Conventionally, cellular phones have become smaller and lighter, and a pen-shaped cellular phone is considered as one form of miniaturization (for example, patent document 1, etc.). FIG. 7 shows the structure of a pen-shaped cellular phone described in such patent document 1. Such pen-shaped cellular phone has a clip 33 which is doubled with a antenna, a microphone 32, a chassis upper section 29 which is equipped with an earphone 28, and a chassis lower section 30 for battery packaging. The numeric keypad 31 is allocated on the side of the chassis upper section 29. See patent document 1 (OP patent laid-open No. 4-40046).
In addition, only the numeric keypad 31 to input a phone number is allocated on the side of the pen-shaped cellular phone described in the patent document 1. According to recent cellular phones, a display section that is made of liquid crystal is essential. However, the surface area of a pen-shaped cellular phone has a limitation. When a display section becomes larger so as to cause it to provide a better view, a keyboard cannot be allocated. Thus, it is thought that operations normally performed by keyboard, such as a numeric keypad, are executed through dial-shaped inputting means (for example, patent document 2, etc.). See patent document 2 (JP patent laid-open No. 10-224441).
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the structure of the pen-shaped cellular phone described in patent document 2. The body of such pen-shaped cellular phone has a cylindrical upper chassis 23, battery of the lower part of chassis 24, a clip section 26 which is attached to the upper chassis 23, a connecting terminal 25 for inputting and outputting such as earphone microphone jack that is set at the upper edge of a clip section 26, and an LCD (liquid crystal display) 27 for display that is attached on the side of the upper chassis 23. Furthermore, the dial-shaped inputting section 22, which has an LED 21 for calling that displays an incoming call in the center of the rotation axis, is located at the upper part of the upper chassis 23. And inputting telephone numbers and letters is performed by a dial-shaped inputting section 22.
In addition, the feature of the aforementioned pen-shaped cellular phone is a pen shape. Thus, it has not had functions as a writing tool, such as ballpoint pen or mechanical pencil. In order to allow such phone to function as a writing tool, there exists technology whereby a ballpoint pen created as a separate article, in lieu of charging battery that is set at the edge of the pen-shaped cellular phone, is connected to such phone (for example, patent document 3). See patent document 3 (JP utility model laid-open No. 6-62657).
FIG. 9 is a diagram of the structure of the pen-shaped cellular phone described in patent document 3. This pen-shaped cellular phone has a cylinder chassis 41, a lot antenna 42 that is mounted at the upper part of the cylinder chassis 41, a speaker 43 that is set on the side of the cylinder chassis 41, a power switch 44, a display section 45, and a lid 46 that can be opened and closed. And the part covered by the lid 46 on the side of the cylinder chassis 41 has operation keys 47. The lower part of the cylinder chassis 46 has a desorption section 48, where a battery 49 for charging is desorbed. And a microphone 50 is allocated on the side of the battery 49 for charging. Additionally, through attaching a ballpoint pen body 51 in lieu of the battery 49 for charging, the pen-shaped cellular phone can function as a writing tool.
According to the technologies described in patent document 1 mentioned above, the numeric keypad 31 is allocated in a large size at the chassis upper section 29, which is easy to operate. However, since no display section is equipped, there has been a problem whereby the operated contents by the numeric keypad 31 have not been able to be confirmed.
Additionally, according to the technologies described in the patent document 2 mentioned above, the display section 27 on the side of the upper chassis 23 is allocated in a large size, which makes it easy to confirm the operated contents. However, because keyboards are not equipped, there has been a problem whereby operations become difficult and inconvenient. That is to say, the dial-shaped inputting section 22 that is set in lieu of a keyboard is very convenient for selecting and transmitting desired telephone numbers from among the telephone numbers registered in the pen-shaped cellular phone and for selecting and transmitting telephone numbers to be redialed. However, when a telephone number is directly inputted and transmitted, or when letter strings are inputted and registered in the telephone book of the pen-shaped cellular phone, unless the method of operation is well known, such inputting operation becomes difficult and inconvenient.
Furthermore, there has been a problem where since the technologies described in the patent document 3 involve the operation keys 47 being allocated in a large size, the display section 45 becomes small, and operated contents become difficult to view. Also, while the pen-shaped cellular phone is used as a writing tool, the ballpoint pen 51 is connected in lieu of the battery 50 for charging. Thus, the power cannot be turned on and on hook/off hook cannot be executed. Thus, no outgoing or incoming calls can be made.